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(No Model.)

H. K. WHITE.

REED ORGAN ACTION.

No. 286,516. Patented Oct. 9, 1883.

N. PETERS mwuma w, Wauhingwn, o. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY K. WHITE, OF MERIDEN, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO XVILCOX &; NVHITEORGAN COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

REED-ORGAN ACTION.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 286,516, dated October9, 1883.

Application filed May 7, 1883. 7 (N0 model.)

T 0 aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY K. \VHITE, of

Meriden, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, haveinvented new Improvements in Reed-Organ Actions; I do hereby declare thefollowing, when taken in connection with accompanying drawing and theletters of reference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the same, and which said drawing constitutes part of thisspecification, and represents a side view of a key and theconnecting-lever.

This invention relates to an improvement in reed-organs, with specialreference to that class in which the valves are arranged on a verticalboard at the rear of the keyboard, and is an improvement on theinvention for which Letteis laient were granted to me March 27, 1883,No. 274,686, but is applicable to other organs in which the action isproduced upon a lever standing substantially vertical to the plane ofthe keyboard. In my previous patent, as in other organs of thischaracter, the movement of the key is imparted to the levers of thevalves by means of an arm extending from the key either up or down. Insuch arrangement the leverage of the key is necessarily short, andrequires considerable pressure to depress the keys.

The object of my invention is to reduce the force required to be appliedto the keys in order to open the valves; and it consists in a system oftoggle-like levers beneath the key, whereby the power of the key overthe action is greatly increased, and as more fully hereinafterdescribed.

A represents one key of the organ, and will fully illustrate theinvention, as the devices are simply duplicated for all the keys inwhich this advantage is desirable.

B is the lever through which the keys or the levers of the action areoperated, and to which the power of the key is directly applied. Thislever takes its bearing at a at a point below the keys, near the front.

D E are two parts of the toggle, one end of the part E resting in thebearing 0, the other end hinged to the forward end of the part D, as atI). The rear or inner end of the part D takes its bearing in the leverE, as at d. From the key a pin, 0, extends downward and bears upon theback of one of the parts D E of the joint. This pin is fast in the key,and should be made adj ustableas, for instance, by making itscrew-threaded it turns into or from the key, as occasion may require.The two partsD E are inclined upward toward their joint, so that theyare above a direct line between the two bearing-points O and (1.Therefore when the key is depressed the parts D E are correspondinglydepressed and approach a direct line between the two points 0 (Z, asseen in broken lines. This depression forces the part D rearward,because the part E is held from forward movement, and this rearmovement, produced by the straigt-hening movement of the toggle, turnsthe lever B rearward and opens the valves. Then, as the pressure isremoved from the key, the springs, as before described, return thetoggles and force the key upward. As the extent of downward movement inextending the toggle is very much greater than the rear movementproduced thereby, it follows that the force produced by the powerapplied is very much greater than i that power so applied and inaccordance with the well-known law of toggle-joints.

I claim 1. The combination of the key A, the parts D E of the toggle,arranged beneath the key, the rear end of one part of the toggle havingits bearing on a corresponding valve-lever, and the other part of thetoggle being supported in a rigid hearing at the front, whereby thedepression of the key is communicated to the valve-levers through saidtoggle, substantially as described.

2. The combination of the key A, the parts D E of the toggle, arrangedbeneath the key, the rear end of one part of the toggle having itsbearing on a corresponding valve-lever, and the other part of the togglebeing supported in a rigid bearing at the front, whereby the depressionof the key is communicated to the valve-levers through said toggle, andthe adjustable pin 0 between the key and toggle, substantially asdescribed.

HENRY K. \VHITE.

Wi tnesses:

W. E. HEMINGWAY, FRED E. Bums.

toggle, preferably up on the part E, and near the

